Vindy curling in your hands?

We’ve had more than a few readers call us in recent weeks about the same peculiar issue:

“The Vindicator newspaper curls up on me.”

It happens to me, too. We’re all in this together.

This curling – if you’ve not caught on to it – is not rolling up the paper like scrolls on “Game of Thrones.” But it’s just enough curl from the corners to irk you.

It happens the worst on the cover pages – A1, B1, etc. But if left open, inside pages can curl.

To answer the main question from readers:

We have not changed the quality of the newsprint. We are using the same style of newsprint now that we switched to in 2010 with our multi-million-dollars press upgrade.

Also, our paper supply company has not changed their paper formula.

What is happening is, well, weather.

Humidity – specifically lack thereof – affects a lot of things. And yes, it has an effect on newsprint.

Our weather in recent months has experienced a low amount of humidity. The absence of that moisture in the air dries out a bunch of things – including your newspaper.

It’s happening to other newspapers, too. We checked around because even we are somewhat surprised at the sustained issue. Our newsprint supplier even tried to reverse roll the newsprint – which is kind of like cutting your lawn in an opposite direction each time – to ease up the curling.

So hang in there with this. Winter is ending.

THE CHAMP IS HERE

Our team produced a Super Bowl web preview program Thursday for Vindy.com and it’s also available on our Vindicator Facebook page.

It is a one-hour preview and history lesson featuring Valley radio legend Champ Summers.

Champ teamed up with our sports team for an hour of some interesting and weird things about the Super Bowl – historically, and today’s match.

Some might suggest the depth of Champ’s Super Bowl knowledge is inhuman and possibly a felony in some states – but we had fun with him in the newsroom. Example:

Art Modell told the Patriots that hiring Bill Belichick would be a mistake.

Tom Brady has more Super Bowl wins than all but three teams.

The AFL and NFL 1960s shenanigans vs. each other surpasses anything the Patriots might have done under the radar.

George Halas had a horrible Yankees career before he quit and became a football icon. Babe Ruth took his roster spot.

When the leagues combined, they were immediately wise to revenue sharing and watching out for the two-team markets of New York and San Francisco.

We broadcast the show live on video and audio to our website. It’s new storytelling we have been working with the past few months.

Last fall, we broadcast Blitz Live on 11 Friday nights – the only “live as it happens” football program in the Valley.

And our morning radio host, Louie Free, frequently uses the Livestream video as well. We featured Youngstown singer Katy Collins live on Thursday on Vindy.com.

Watch for more live programming in 2017.

THE PROMISE & TRUMP

Another thing to watch in 2017 is President Trump. If the first two weeks are any tell, this might be the most-watched programming of the year.

The Vindicator has partnered with journalists from New York City, Iowa and Texas to produce “The Promise.”

This will be a year-long look at Trump’s actions. Each newspaper has found citizens in its communities who are a cross-section of America. The reporting will focus on how those people and their friends react to the changes.

We were chosen as a host newspaper for the project.

It will not go live for another week or so. It will be hosted on Vindy.com.

But you can get a look at past work of the New York-based project by Googling “The Big Roundtable.”

Todd Franko is editor of The Vindicator. He likes emails about stories and our newspaper. Email him at tfranko@vindy.com. He blogs, too, on Vindy.com. Tweet him, too, at @tfranko.